Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what’s a heaven for?
Robert Browning – “Andrea del Sarto”

It’s one thing to be content with what we have (actually quite an achievement in this consumer driven society) and entirely another to be content with who we are and what we’ve achieved in our short lifetime.  As individuals are we mindlessly riding the coattails of time, stumbling from one day to another, with no real sense of purpose or direction?  Or do we walk with purpose in our journey and achieve over time far more than we could have imagined?

Without a dream or goal in life, beyond our day to day existence, with nothing to strive for or anticipate – life can become a drab encounter with the occasional seemingly random colourful moment that stops us from running screaming out the proverbial door.  As much as I observe the frustrated, never ending search of man, for purpose within himself, it is no coincidence that this reaching for things beyond our grasp is hard wired into our psyche.  Without this life changing force, our very survival would be at stake.  The human race would simply become lackadaisical in its approach to everything and in all likelihood would eventually cease to exist.

Then again there is an entire industry devoted to those seeking to find and reach their ‘dreams’.  However, dreams in themselves have no power beyond the existential.  They need to be acted on, thought through, planned, persevered  and mediated on.  Beyond finding our own personal dream and within that process then comes the question – what is the ultimate foundation of our dreams?  Is it a dream born of desires to ‘have it all’ and ‘be all we can be’ .. at the expense of others and centred solely on ourselves.  Unfortunately this type of self serving purpose historically proves to be our own downfall.  As many famous and infamous people clearly show by the train wreck of their lives or the lonely ignominy of their death … the fulfilment of selfish dreams seems in the end to be empty, dark and hollow in its victory. 

However, if the foundation our purpose is built on, is outside of ourselves … we are indeed reaching beyond our grasp and heaven is in view …